Created to Share our Creativity

Is it vain to create with the main purpose of sharing what we created?

This is a question I’ve wrestled with a lot. And I’ve grappled with similar questions like, is it wrong that most of the joy I get from creating is actually from sharing what I created with others? Is it wrong that I care how others will receive what I created?

That I hope they will laugh, cry, think that it’s beautiful.

Should it be enough to just create for creation’s sake? Should the motivation remain even if no one’s there to see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, breathe it? I’ve sat on these questions a lot & this is where I’ve landed…

I think creativity & community go hand in hand. That sharing what we create with others is a REALLY important part of the process as a whole. Whether it’s a painting, a photograph, a poem, a funny video or whether it’s a delicious meal, a beautiful home, a garden full of flowers! Yes, we can create it and enjoy it ourselves, but I have found more often that it is sweeter when it’s shared.

Checking Our Heart Motives

Now of course I’ll add this caveat - sharing our creativity with others can be rooted in vanity. It can turn into a negative cycle of people pleasing & seeking the approval of others to determine our own worth. I struggle with this regularly. So while that is something I want to be weary of, I still don’t think it should keep me, or you, from sharing our creativity with others because swinging to the other end of the spectrum has its own host of problems, too - fear, pride, self-preservation, playing it small.

Everything we do can turn selfish real quickly, it’s human nature. But if I keep refocusing my intentions on how I might be able to bless others with my creativity - whether that be through making someone laugh, helping others feel that they’re not alone, sharing beauty for someone to enjoy, inspiring others to get in touch with their own creative side, etc. - then that makes sharing it that much lighter & brighter. We can’t have perfectly pure motives, but when we aim for blessing others, it’s a much more fulfilling purpose.

To Share Online or Not

There are two sides to every coin and while I’m quite familiar with the host of negative things that come along with sharing on the internet, I think one of the most amazing things about it is how it allows us to connect creatively with one another and share what we’re making! I am pro-sharing our creativity with others & I think each person can decide if social media or the internet in general is a place where they want to do that. Sometimes it’s incredible to think about the endless reach you could have online to connect with others, but sometimes our creativity is meant to be shared one-on-one in real life instead.

Personally, I have started making it a practice to take chunks of time away from being online throughout the year and I’ve found that it helps clear my mind and actually gives me margin to re-boost my creative engines so that when I do come back to it, I feel like I have more clarity & intention behind what I’m creating & sharing.

Modeled by our Creator

If you’re not yet encouraged to share your creativity with others, let me finish with this. I believe in a Creator God who hand-knit me together and designed the entire universe. I think that He modeled sharing our creativity with others by designing the universe and sharing it with us! And I think that maybe, He created us to do the same. We are, after all, created in His image. So how much joy & delight & glory might He take in seeing us spread the creative light he put inside of us with everyone around us? It’s sweet to ponder!

Free Verse on Creating & Sharing

Created to Share

He did not create

just for creation’s sake

But to share it

the joy & the beauty & the glory 

And maybe He created us to do the same

We are, after all, created in His image

creative creating creators created by a Creative Creator